OPAM For July

I had another productive month 

with 10 finishes for July.

Lavender sachets.

Tilda swap hanging.

More lavender sachets.

Reindeer hanging.

Christmas decoration.

Thanks to Peg and Kris for keeping us on track with OPAM.

What A Footy Match!

Edit:  You can read about it here and also listen to their coach, Peter Densley's interview.

 Yesterday Austin's team played their Yarrambat JFC Depression and Anxiety Awareness round match.

For the first time in 35 years, they played in a different colour. Blue for Beyond Blue which is 

the depression and anxiety support group.

 

 It was a hard fought match.

 The boys were playing in memory of our President, Craig.

Final score - Yarrambat 8 13 61 to Diamond Creek 9 6 60.

It was quite a controversial finish. We were 2 points ahead when DC kicked a point. The umpire called the ball back for a free kick. The player faked an injury so the ball was given to one of their better kickers, who then kicked a goal, putting DC ahead by 4 points and winning the game. The DC team all jumped around celebrating and the umpire noticed the "injured" player had had a miraculous recovery and disallowed the goal. The injured player was handed the ball and missed the goal, getting a point. I was time keeping and scoring and it got very confusing.

 In the rooms after the game. 

The match even made it to the 3AW Rumour File on the radio this morning! Their coach was on a little later talking about the game and it also made the 9 o'clock news!

Congratulations to the Under 17's team. 

You played a fantastic game.

I'm sure Craig would have been so proud of you.

Christmas In July For Pat!

I was partnered up with Pat (no blog) to send 

to for our Christmas in July swap. 

  

I made Pat this mini wall quilt.

The fabric had gold swirls. It turns out Pat loves a bit of bling and fabrics with gold on them. I must have known!

 Then there was a Christmas stitchery in a hoop.

 Finally, a decoration for Pat's tree 

(or anywhere she wants to hang it!).

I also added a mini reindeer stitchery kit

 in a cute little tin and some chocolate.

I'm so glad you liked your gifts, Pat. 

I really enjoyed making them for you.

Christmas in July From Michell!

 My parcel finally arrived today. It came all the way from New Zealand from Michell of Michell's Place. 

At least I didn't have that temptation to squeeze and shake the gifts while waiting for opening day.

I just ripped into carefully opened them straight away!

 First off was this sweet little reindeer. It's a bit hard to see but Michell has added tiny beads to the stars. It was only a couple of days ago I looked at this pattern thinking I would like to stitch it for myself. Now I don't have to.

 Then there was a lovely snowman mini quilt. It will be a nice addition to my Christmas mini quilt wall this year.

 Finally, a drawstring bag made in lovely fabric.

 Inside were some extra goodies. A cute Christmas fat quarter, 2 mini charm packs, a magnetic NZ note pad
and Breast Cancer Crusade pen.

 Thank you so much, Michell.
You have certainly spoilt me.
 

Thank you also to our super swap mama, Chez, 

for organising this fun swap.

Premiers?!!

Mitchell has been playing indoor cricket. Monday night I took him to his match. They thought they were playing a Preliminary Final but at the end of the match, the opposition informed them that it was the Grand Final!

One of the boys jokingly said "now we've won, we have to come back next week". That's when the opposition told them. We couldn't stop laughing. 

It was the most relaxed Grand Final they have ever played. 

They also found out they were in Division 1.

Our boys were 67 to 66 with one ball to bowl. 

Our bowler then bowled the batter out on the last ball. In indoor cricket, if you go out, you lose 5 runs. 

So the final score was 67 to 61.

Congratulations on the Grand Final win 

you didn't know you were playing, boys!

Tilda Swap For Claire

My partner in our Friends Having Fun Tilda Swap was Claire of Claire-Bear Quilts. Now that Claire has received her parcel, I can share what I sent her with you. 

I made Claire this wall hanging from a pattern in a Tilda book, Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle. I searched the front yard to find the perfect stick to hang the quilt up with as it matched the hanging. In case you are wondering, no, I didn't mail the stick to Claire! I thought I took a photo of it hanging up but can't seem to find it.

 

It's a bit hard to see but the buttons are

made of mother of pearl.

 

Some lavender sachets made with pretty Tilda fabric. 

I added some chocolate and a sweet little butterfly.

I'm glad you liked your swap items, Claire.

I really enjoyed making this for you.

Thanks to Shez and Peg for this fun swap.

Friday Night Sew-In!

 I had planned to do some prep work last night but it was 

so cosy in the loungeroom, I stayed in there and 

did some secret sewing instead!

 Head over to Wendy's to see what everyone else got up to.

These are the first blog photos taken with our new camera at Mitchell's football match this morning. Now I just have to figure out how to use it properly.

 

I still haven't figured out the downloading yet. 

I cheated and put the sd card back into the old 

camera to down load these photos!

Quilty Stitches!

 Block 13 of my Quilty Stitches Sampler Along is done. According to Barbara Brackman, this block is called a Friendship Star block.

 Only three blocks to go!

It's Friday Night Sew-In hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Quilts. I'm hoping to get some prep work done. 

See you tonight!

Tilda Swap!

Yesterday I borrowed my SIL's camera as I was tired of trying to get the iphone photos the right way. These were so much easier. I got the new camera today so now I have to figure out how to use it!

Anyway, I haven't shown you the beautiful gifts I received from Karen (Sunburnt Quilts) in our Friends Having Fun Tilda Swap. I was so spoilt!

How gorgeous is this snowman and penguin.
I think this is my first Christmas penguin!

This lovely heart is now hanging in my sewing room.

A sweet covered note pad.

Karen also included this preprinted Tilda stitchery. I have never seen these before. I'll enjoy stitching this one.

And finally there were also some lollies. You will be very impressed to know that I had not opened them until I was able to take the photos (and they're still unopened)!

Thank you so much for my lovely swap gifts, Karen.

Here are my Tilda packages that are heading off to ????

They Say Things Come In Threes!

Well, our third big expense happened last night.

Driving Nelson to football training, a kangaroo jumped down from a small height and I only saw it at the last second. I couldn't do anything and it crashed into our car. Nelson nearly had heart failure as he was sitting in the front seat right where it hit. We turned around and went back but the kangaroo must have hopped off. Considering the damage that could have happened, only the mirror was broken. There's also a small dent at the base of the window. The roo was quite a big one so I think we were very lucky.

We have travelled up and down this road nearly every 

day for over 13 years (this is the way we go to 

school and football). Although we often see the 

kangaroos and they jump in front of us, this is the first 

time we have actually collided. 

Mitchell was very pleased that I had decided to take my car and not his. I have been driving his a lot so that Mitchell is getting the practice when I pick him up.

And the other two expenses? Last month Noel had his 25-30 year old trailer stolen from the yard at work so he just had my brother make him a new one. Thanks Pete!

There's also my new camera. It has now been shipped and I am patiently waiting for it to arrive. 

Have a great weekend everyone.

PS. I still can't get use to Mitchell's hair (or lack there of)!

I Know We've Been Nagging. . . . . .

. . . . . . for months and months to have a hair cut 

but this is a bit too far!

Noel rang me at 7.00 this morning and told me to look at Mitchell's Facebook page and this is what I found! 

At a sleep over last night, I'm guessing someone bet

him $100 to shave his head. So he did!

Just wait till he gets home!

Finally Ready To Start!

After procrastinating for nearly two years, I have finally psyched myself up to start quilting my Double Wedding Ring quilt. I had bought one of those powder pounce pad and stencil thinking it would be a great way to mark the quilt. I tried it several times but wasn't at all happy with it. 

I found the powder came off too easily. So what did I do? I scanned the stencil, printed it off, cut it out and pasted it onto cardboard. Ta da! One new template with which 

I used my favourite frixion pen. I can easily see the lines 

and I know they will iron off.

I really don't know why I kept putting this off. I really wanted to hand quilt it as I have hand pieced the top. Maybe it was just a little daunting but I'm feeling much better now I've changed to the frixion pen. So I'm all ready to start quilting this baby when I head off on retreat in about 3 weeks 

(unless I get a chance to start sooner).

I was lucky enough to win a charm pack of Helen's

(Hugs From Helen) new fabric range, Basically Hugs. Here are a few of the different charms. They are so lovely. 

Thank you, Helen.

And I was Anthea's (Hibiscus Stitches) lucky June 

winner for Christmas Through The Year too! 

Thank you, Anthea.